Introducing the New Payment Security Standard: EMV Credit and Debit Cards
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about EMV lately. EMV is the new payment security standard currently being adopted in the US. In addition to a magnetic stripe on back, EMV credit and debit cards have a microchip embedded in them. Each time the card is used, the chip generates a unique code, which helps confirm that the card is valid. In addition, the chip is more secure than a magnetic stripe and protects cardholder data better. The payments industry is adopting EMV technology in the US to help curb payment card fraud, which has reached epidemic proportions here. Estimates are that in the US, total losses due to credit card fraud top $8 billion each year.
The move to EMV payments is likely to affect medical practices two ways. First, eventually most credit and debit cards will have chips in them, so many of your patients that pay their bill with a credit or debit card will be paying with an EMV chip card. If you’re unable to accept chip credit and debit cards, eventually it could become an inconvenience for your patients and it might impact your cash flow.
Second, to help encourage the adoption of EMV in the US, on October 1, 2015, the card associations- Visa, MasterCard, Discover and AMEX—shifted the liability for some types of card fraud from card issuers, who have traditionally borne the responsibility, to businesses that can’t process EMV chip cards, including medical practices. Although credit and debit card fraud is less common in the medical industry than in other industries, such as jewelry or consumer electronics, it does occur. So, if you can’t accept EMV cards at this point, you could be held liable for the card fraud that occurs at your office.
For those medical practices that want to accept EMV chip cards, MicroMD and Moneris are ready to help. The two companies have teamed to add EMV chip card processing to the new version of MicroMD ePayments, the payment processing solution that is directly integrated into the MicroMD Practice Management solution. The new EMV-ready payment processing solution utilizes the IPP 320, a secure, state-of-the-art EMV chip card terminal from Ingenico. You can accept both EMV credit and debit cards through the IPP 320, as well as contactless payments like Apple Pay and Google Wallet, which are rapidly growing in popularity, especially with younger consumers.
To accept EMV chip cards and contactless payments, a practice will need to contact MicroMD to upgrade to the new version of MicroMD PM—there’s no charge to do so—and order an IPP 320 EMV chip card terminal through Moneris. To help offset the cost of moving to EMV, for a limited time, Moneris is offering various financial incentives to new and existing ePayments users.
To view an online educational seminar on EMV Chip Cards, please visit the MicroMD Lounge.
